> We will be the first species ever to design our own descendants. My guess is that we can either be the biological bootloader for digital intelligence and then fade into an evolutionary tree branch, or we can figure out what a successful merge looks like. - Sam Altman (https://blog.samaltman.com/the-merge)
I would say it is.
I'm a neuroscientist and, man alive, we're no where close to being able to merge with machines. Like, do you have any idea how many diseases we could eradicate if we could modify neurons like that? Like, for real, 'curing death' would be step 9 or 10 on that 1000 step journey.
I hope you see how terribly uninformed such a take is then.
Yeah, I only quoted it to show how that other statement up-thread can't be taken seriously.
The only way I can square it is if it's a lie, or they're reassuring themselves whatever destruction comes will be fine as long as "there will be peace and security in [their] lifetime."
Beff Jezos (e/acc founder): "e/acc has no particular allegiance to the biological substrate for intelligence and life, in contrast to transhumanism
Parts of e/acc (e.g. Beff) consider ourselves post-humanists; in order to spread to the stars, the light of consciousness/intelligence will have to be transduced to non-biological substrates"
Beff Jezos / Verdon: "Personally, yes."
Yudkowsky is transhumanist in that he is hopeful people could voluntarily extend their biological self, but isn't advocating for the elimination of all biological selves in pursuit of other artificial intelligences.
Voluntary /= involuntary eradication